The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra arrived in Britain with a bang in summer 2007. "I am not sure anything quite like Gustavo Dudamel and his extraordinary group of young musicians have ever hit the Proms before," wrote Andrew Clements, reviewing. "Whatever you have read about the orchestra … can't convey the brilliance and disarming exuberance of their playing, or the importance of Dudamel's role in channelling that energy." The orchestra is, of course, the most famous product of Venezuela's radical music education system, the brainchild of José Abreu, who seeks to effect social change through involving Venezuela's most deprived communities in communal music making.

The orchestra swept all before them over the next few years, and the critics continued to lavish praise on them – "the symbiosis between conductor and ensemble is quite electric", wrote the Guardian's Erica Jeal, reviewing their 2009 London residency.

Dudamel's star, too, continued to rise. He was appointed music director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, while over the past few years he has guest-conducted for many of the world's leading orchestras and opera houses.

Dudamel and his orchestra, the "Youth" of its name dropped now many of the players were heading for their 30s and beyond, returned to the Proms last year to play Mahler's second symphony, a work of great theatricality that played to the orchestra's strengths, as our reviewer noted. Not everyone agreed with him though – had the backlash begun?

As Marshall Marcus notes, the orchestra that arrives in London today has a lot to prove. "There has never been an orchestra like this one. Now mainly in their early 30s, they have already played together for almost two decades. No one really knows how far, and in what ways, they will develop." Tom Service points out that their choice of repertoire, notably Beethoven's Eroica symphony (the climax of Saturday's Royal Festival Hall concert) leaves the players more exposed than their more usual choice of works. "The thing with Beethoven, especially the Eroica, is that there's nowhere to hide, no gigantic perorations of brassy virtuosity to disguise any interpretative infelicities or flaws in the ensemble, as there can be in the barnstorming late-romantic and 20th-century repertoire the Simón Bolívars often play."

Their two London concerts (23 and 26 June) sold out long since, but wherever you are in the world, you can watch them. We are live-streaming both Saturday and Tuesday's concerts direct from London's Royal Festival Hall. Watch with us, for free – bookmark this page – and witness for yourself the sheer excitement and energy that this orchestra create with their charismatic conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Need programme notes? Here you are. Need someone to talk about it with? Tom Service will be watching during Saturday's concert on his laptop and will be live online, here, to talk about it with you afterwards, or join the discussion on Twitter using #bolivarlive.

And, if you miss the live events, you can view the concerts again on demand for a further week.